Updating the Fireplace: Part II

The fireplace work is pretty much done. After I laid the tiles I let them set for 2 days and then applied 3 coats for tile sealer. Since these tiles are actually natural stone I had to seal them to prevent the grout from leaking into the stone.

After the tiles were seal I used sanded Bone color grout. I only used half of the bag (1.7kg) which ended up being the perfect amount. I decided to tape around the fireplace but that wasn't a great idea and I wouldn't do it again since when I pulled the tape off it brought up some grout. However, it was easily fixed.

The only thing I have to do now is to attach the old surround back on which I will do tonight. In 3 more days I will seal the tiles and grout to make sure that all stains won't leave a mark.

Overall, a fun project that really changes the look of the room. Below are a couple of pictures with the tile grouted.

Updating the Fireplace: Part I

We decided to update the look of the fireplace while still keeping with the overall look of the house. First the red tiles on the hearth area were cracked and grout was coming out.

So over the span of an hour I pulled up all of the tile and cleaned up the area. We decided to put down tumbled stone 2x2 tiles. They came in a 1 sq. foot section held together by mesh - a pretty neat solution.

It took me 5 -6 hours to lay out and cut the tile as needed. Luckily the tile is very soft and I was able to use my hacksaw to make the cuts I needed.

I then used the tile cement and laid them down. Since they are porous tiles I will have to seal them first before we grout them. It will take 3 coats of sealant and then a day of drying. We have chosen a grout color called "Bone" which should nicely match the tiles.

I always have a hard time with drastic change so it will take me a bit to get used to these but I overall like how they look and I think once they are grouted they will look even better.

Before and After....

Bathroom Door Completed

Well I finished the bathroom door - in all it took 1 week. We're pretty happy with the results. In the end we ended up painting the old hardware a flat black which is the closest to it's real color. They were to far deteriorated to leave them natural.

Here are some before and after pictures.

It's been a while...

It's been quite a while since I've posted an updated. Overall it's been a pretty slow summer. Between spending lots of money getting a new roof and going to the cottage every weekend the house was kind of put on hold.

However, we are now back into it.

This weekend we made a list of some things we wanted to get done around the house and jumped in. First off was to strip and re-paint the bathroom door. It is by far the worst looking door in the house. I setup some work horses outside and went to town with the heat gun. It took about 6 hours to strip the entire door. I then used some wood filler to fill all of the holes and cracks.

The second door I worked on was one that was sitting in the basement. This one was used to make a workbench - not a great idea by the previous owners. This door belongs in the third bedroom closet. I stripped one side of it and started to repair it. The left side had about a 6 inch section that cracked off so it will take a bit to get it back to new.

I hope to update at least twice a week when I have lots of projects going on. There is lots in store for the next 6 months.

Guest Bedroom

With staying home today due to ice damn removal I was able to get a lot done on the guest bedroom. I sanded the first application of Sheetrock over the mesh tape. You could still see the tape so I did another coat feathering it out to the edges.

The walls are all done now which is nice. Two more nights of the ceiling and all the sanding and mudding should be done.

Today I also cut all of the quarter round for the baseboards. There were 8 cuts in all. I made the first 6 perfectly. Then I messed up the last 2. I had enough material to cut new pieces. I then primed them in the basement.

That's about it for the work today - time to take the dog for a walk and enjoy some of the sunshine.

Ice Damn - The Follow Up

Well Sergei and his worker arrived at 10:00am as promised. The got up on the flat roof from the back of the house. This is how I got up last summer to install the gutters. However, after almost not being able to come down I said I would never go up there again. Anyways...

The worked for about 2 hours getting everything cleaned up. Not surprisingly we had about 4 feet of snow up there with about 4 inches of ice built up around the gutters - that was the bad news.

Sergei showed me a picture when he came down and the roof was clear of all snow and ice. What was left up there would have melted this afternoon since it was above freezing.

Hopefully this solves our roof problems for now and the window stops leaking. Tomorrow night I'm going to clean up what leaked out and leave it for a week to make sure there is not more water. If all is good then I will strip and re-paint the window.

Damn those Ice Damns

Well, it seems this winter has gotten the best of our roof. This past weekend we have been working hard on the guest bedroom to fix it up for the end of March.

We noticed around the window some cracks and little brown spots - oh yes it was water. I took off the screen on the window and looked outside and there was water and ice all over the brick dripping down from the flat roof.

This morning I called some places and Serge from All County Aluminum is coming tomorrow morning at 10am.

It sounds like we have an ice damn on the flat room. I did some research (shocking ) and basically what happens is that as the snow melts and freezes there is a large build up around the gutters. This blocks the normal path of flow for further melting. As a result all of the water just sits on the roof and causes problems - as we've seen.

So tomorrow they are going to remove the snow and ice from the flat roof and go from there. I will update the blog tomorrow with the progress. (And some pictures of the guest bedroom so far).

Oh the bank account isn't going to enjoy this week :(

Kitchen Reno's

Well it's been a long time coming but we finally fixed up the kitchen. It wasn't a full blown reno which we hope to do in 5 years or so but it was a good amount of work. Here's what we did:

• Fixed the walls in the kitchen (filled, sanded)
• Same for the ceiling
• Installed new quarter round along the baseboards
• Stripping all the paint from the door frame and window frame
• Installed new counter tops from Ikea
  
• Installed a stainless steel back splash
  
• Installed new receptacles (with the Acenti line - see earlier post)

All in all we are happy with the outcome. The hardest part was the counter tops so I'll discuss those a little.

The old counters were so uneven and not screwed to the cabinets that they were a breeze to take off. For two of the three counters it was pretty easy to cut - just used my Porter Cable circular saw with a new 40 tooth Freud blade which worked great.

I shimmed the counters so they were level and then screwed them in. The stainless steel backsplash was from Ikea as well. I used a jigsaw with a metal blade to cut them to the size we wanted. Those are installed behind the counters.

The hardest countertop was the one with the sink. I had to cut a corner of the counter out so it would fit around the wall. I did some test cuts first to get it perfect and it came out great. However, to cut the hold with the sink was another story. Nothing would cut through the counter - the jigsaw pretty much died. So I dropped in the circular saw which I didn't like doing but in the end worked out ok.

Here are some before pictures of the job...


And After...

New Sander

For Christmas Jen gave me exactly what I wanted - a Dewalt Random Orbital Sander. I don't have a good sander yet so this will be a real treat.

I think the first project with it will be to repair the closet door for the office. I found it downstairs nailed on the underside of a make shift workbench. It need a lot of work but I'm hopeful that I can fix it.

I'll post pictures of it once I start.

Happy New Year!

Fireplace...

So, another job that I thought was going to take maybe 2 days has turned into a larger project.

Our old coal fireplace needed to have the mantel painted to match the rest of trim in the living room. I started to sand the fireplace and much to my shock I was able to peel an entire layer of paint off in one sheet.

So I started to work away at peeling off all of the paint. It seems that the original fireplace was stained wood, then with a layer of yellowish high-gloss paint followed by the current white paint.

Here are some pictures of the fireplace before I started work and my progression. I used a simple steel putty knife - I just had to be careful not to cut the wood.

I think my plan of attack is going to be:
1. Sand
2. Prime
3. Fill and Sand
4. Paint
5. Final Coat

(The picture quality isn't the best - they were taken with my cell phone camera)












Here it is after the first coat of primmer. Next up is filling and sanding.













Here it is after it's been filled and sanded.













And the final product! It looks pretty good - much nicer than before. Hopefully soon we will get some marble to replace the tiles and re-tile the floor area.

Obsessed with Receptacles

Now when you think of receptacles I'm sure you picture the standard run-of-the-mill plugs. Me too, until I found these ones by Leviton called Acenti

They are a little more expensive then the standard ones but have a nice screw-less plate and a clean design.

As well, they have the first Triplex Receptacle which accommodates three NEMA grounding plugs.

I have installed three of these now and they look great. The only thing I found is that you really have to push them into the wall to get a nice fit.

The Acenti line also has some really nice wall switches and dimmers. They are a little to expensive for me to justify right now so I will hold off on those.

All in all, a nice little touch for a few dollars.

Looking through new windows

After enduring almost 2 years of non-functional kitchen and bathroom windows we finally have the new ones installed.

The windows are from Prime Seal Canada

The bathroom window was cracked and wouldn't open - this is a nice feature after a 10 minute shower. Our bathroom doubled as a sauna.

The kitchen window was just old and didn't have a screen on it. I built a new screen for it but then a storm blew it out of the window and smashed it in the backyard :(

Overall, we are very happy with the new windows. Hopefully it will help the draft problem in the winter.

Front Porch - Part One

(This is a project that we did in the summer of 2006 but I thought it was a good one so here are the details!)

We have quite a bit of work to do on the front porch of our house. It's probably one of the best features on the house. It's a great place to have a cup of coffee and read the paper on the weekend.

As the first project we wanted to replace the lattice work on the bottom and sides. The front piece a solid while the side is hinged so we can store some stuff under the porch.

It was a pretty fun project that took about 1/2 a day to completed. It makes a big difference from the side walk.

Part Two will probably be next summer when we replace the floor boards and railing.

Before...

During...

After....